It's been a difficult year — one that felt like humanity was living on a fracturing ice shelf. That uncertainty came from our exposure to wars and natural disasters, and even our struggles with "truth" itself. The best Japan-related books released in 2016 seemed ...

This collection of short stories arrived with a warning from the publisher: "Graphic sexual content." Perhaps it was worried that reviewers would blush to the tips of their toes upon reading it. However, anyone who has encountered Murakami's excruciating 1992 sadomasochistic film "Topazu" ("Tokyo ...

Life around a U.S. base camp in Kanagawa in the 1970s may have mirrored certain aspects of American life, but they were often the most self-destructive elements. Set along the urban border between a military camp and Japan proper, the violent milieu of Ryu ...

Not to be confused with another famous Japanese novelist who has the same surname, Ryu Murakami is known for being an overtly political, even subversive, writer. "From the Fatherland, With Love," his latest novel to be translated into English, cements that reputation. Taking place ...